Wigan Athletic struck gold with £1.2m Bristol Rovers transfer which kickstarted Premier League dream | OneFootball

Wigan Athletic smashed their transfer record to sign Nathan Ellington and the rest is history

After years bouncing around in non-league, reaching the Premier League was nothing more than a pipedream for Wigan Athletic in the 90s, but the early 2000s saw that dream become a reality.

Under the guidance of Paul Jewell, the Latics caught everyone by surprise in 2004/05 when they finally achieved promotion to the Premier League, and although they had a helping hand from local businessman Dave Whelan, who pumped money into the club, Wigan deserved their promotion.

Success was built over a number of years for Wigan. It wasn't just achieved in one season, as Whelan invested gradually over a number of seasons to see his club achieve what he'd always wanted - get into the Premier League.

Latics were a division three club when Whelan took over, and although that would hint that he bought success as they rose up the football pyramid, the process took almost a decade.

There was, however, one signing he made which really tipped the balance as far as getting into the Premier League.

Wigan had been stuck in Division Two for a while in the late 90s/early 2000s and Whelan took matters into his own hands by deciding that they were missing a proven number nine to get them up the next step of the ladder.

Whelan broke Wigan's transfer record when he brought Nathan Ellington to the JJB Stadium for Bristol Rovers for a fee reported to be £1.2m, which back in the day was an incredible amount of money for a third tier club to be spending.

Ellington had scored 15 goals the season prior for Bristol Rovers at that very level, and once he found his feet at Wigan, he scored as many in the 2002/03 season as they were promoted into what was then Division One.

Latics narrowly missed out on the play-offs in 2003/04, but Ellington was their top scorer with 18 goals, and he netted even more the season after, putting 24 away as he helped Latics finish in second and finally realise Whelan's dream.

He struck up a phenomenal partnership with Jason Roberts, with the duo striking an incredible 45 goals throughout the season, which accounted for over half of Wigan's seasonal tally!

Nathan Ellington was hasty in moving to West Brom

West Brom boss Bryan Robson liked what he'd seen from a man nicknamed "The Duke", and what wasn't to like? He was one of the most prolific strikers in the second tier, so he was always likely to attract attention.

But having been promoted, it was expected Wigan would try and keep hold of him, but in the last year of his contract, the £3m West Brom offered was too much for the Latics to turn down.

Wigan used that money to bolster their front line with Henri Camara before their maiden Premier League campaign, and they went on to have a successful eight seasons in the top-flight.